Neural Patterns

Neural oscillations throughout the brain carry a wealth of information about cognition and brain function. Neural oscillations have long been correlated to a variety of normal brain functions ranging from motor control to learning and memory to consciousness and to sleep. Normally, neural oscillations have great precision in establishing temporal correlations in neural networks. As a result, disruptions and impairments in these temporal correlations are candidate mechanisms in several neurological disorders.

It is thus crucial to utilize neural oscillations as an accessible biomarker of brain disorders. Neural oscillations have been heavily implicated in neurological conditions such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathic pain, depression, and Alzheimer’s, among others.

BSF is interested in understanding the role of neural oscillations in neurological disorders. Identifying neural oscillation biomarkers associated with neurological conditions provides insight for understanding mechanisms of pathophysiology and improves diagnosis and treatment strategies. Though current methods of neural oscillation detection offer valuable diagnostic information, organizing the available data, along with other disease biomarkers, into an analytical framework is necessary for an improved and early diagnosis.

The Fundamental Code Unit (FCU) serves as an analytical platform for neural oscillation research. Most neurological conditions such as neuropathic pain are complex disorders with abnormalities expressed at different neural levels, so therefore the FCU can model neural functioning at these different levels according to their unary values. In the context of neural conditions, it is crucial to understand how neural oscillation abnormalities occur as a result of bottom-up or top-down changes on the genetic, molecular, synaptic, network, and anatomic levels.